Book of the Month Club v. United States

59 Cust. Ct. 641, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedSeptember 6, 1967
DocketR.D. 11356
StatusPublished

This text of 59 Cust. Ct. 641 (Book of the Month Club v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Book of the Month Club v. United States, 59 Cust. Ct. 641, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230 (cusc 1967).

Opinion

OliveR, Judge:

This appeal for reappraisement covers merchandise consisting of small microscopes and telescopes exported from Japan on October 16, 1959. The articles do not appear on the final list (T.D. 54521), and they were appraised on the basis of export value, as defined in section 402 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, at an amount equal to the invoice unit values ($0.96 for the microscopes and $1.16 for the telescopes) plus charges for packing, inland freight, and shipping. An agent’s commission was not included as part of the appraised values. Plaintiff does not contest the basis of value, nor the added packing charge, but maintains that the additions for shipping and inland freight form no part of the dutiable export values.

Export value, as defined in section 402(b) of the tariff act, as amended, supra, provides as follows:

(b) EXPORT VALUE. — For the purposes of this section, the export value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the time of exportation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing appraisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for exportation to the United States, plus, when not included in such price, the cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States.

Before turning to the evidence in this case, it is important to state clearly what is in dispute between the parties. The articles were invoiced at ex-factory figures together with separate charges for packing, inland freight, shipping, and agent’s commission. The appraiser stated in red ink that he “appr. at Inv. Units Plus items marked X”. X’s were placed next to the packing and inland freight and shipping charges. The plaintiff at trial and in its brief has accepted the ex-factory ap-praisement and explicitly challenges only the additions for freight and [642]*642shipping. Despite intimations to the contrary during trial, the defendant in its brief, as well as in its statement filed pursuant to rule 15, has clearly stated its acceptance of the appraised values. There is before me here, therefore, the classic situation involving a separable appraisement (see accord Kurt Orban Company, Inc. v. United States, 52 CCPA 20, C.A.D. 851), and the plaintiff is entitled to rely upon so much of the appraisement as remains unchallenged and to litigate only those elements he wishes to dispute. United States v. Gehrig, Hoban & Co., Inc., 54 CCPA 129, C.A.D. 924; United States v. Fritzsche Bros., Inc., 35 CCPA 60, C.A.D. 371. Whether or not the inland freight and shipping charges are properly includible in determining export value is the sole issue in this case and any evidence and/or arguments addressed to other matters, such as whether plaintiff has established the usual wholesale quantities in which the merchandise was sold, cover areas outside the scope of this litigation and will not be dealt with by this court.

Mr. Allan Ullman, called by the plaintiff, testified that in 1958 and 1959 he was employed in the Promotion Department of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc., a company whose primary 'business is selling subscriptions to Book-of-the-Month and various subsidiary clubs. In line with his duties, he had conceived the idea of utilizing microscopes and telescopes as inducements for young persons to join the Young Readers of America, a subsidiary club. Contact was made with the Matsuzaka Trading Co. (hereinafter referred to as Matsuzaka) and it was retained as plaintiff’s Japanese buying agent. Plaintiff’s exhibit 3 was received in evidence as a copy of the agency agreement. From various samples, Mr. Ullman selected those manufactured by the Hishimoto Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hishimoto), and recommended their purchase to his company. The recommendation was accepted and orders were placed with Matsuzaka. Ullman testified further that he had nothing more to do with ordering this merchandise except to see that the responsible party continued to place additional orders. As to the purchase price and terms, he stated (R. 15) :

A. As I recall it, the prices were the prices at the factory, and to these prices were various charges, some of which I don’t understand to this day, and what I tried to get ultimately was what the cost to us would be landed here.

Representative samples of the imported articles were received in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibits 1 and 2. The witness also identified plaintiff’s exhibits 4 and 5 as his company’s confirmations of the orders placed with Matsuzaka covering the merchandise on the involved entry. Each document contains the ex-factory prices claimed by the plaintiff plus separate packing, freight, shipping, and commission charges [643]*643equaling an f.o.b. Yokohama price. The c.i.f. New York prices are also listed with the additions for ocean freight and insurance.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 6 is an affidavit of Mr. M. Kobayashi, managing director of Hishimoto, dated November 2,1962. So far as pertinent to the determination presented by this case, the affiant states that he is personally familiar with sales of microscopes and telescopes to the plaintiff through its agent Matsuzaka; that the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc., is a good customer of Hishimoto, is not related to Hishi-moto, and Hishimoto sells to it on the same terms and conditions as it does to other customers; and that Matsuzaka is in no way connected with Hishimoto and that Hishimoto knows it as the purchasing agent of the plaintiff company. At the beginning of the third paragraph, the affidavit reads as follows:

2. The said Microscopes and Telescopes are freely offered for sale to anyone who wants to buy them at prices computed at the point of delivery at the Hishimoto factory. All delivery charges or other charges subsequent to delivery at the factory, are for the account of the buyer.

Defendant’s evidence, collective exhibit A, consists of a Treasury report together with several attachments, including another affidavit of Mr. Kobayashi of Hishimoto, dated March 9,1965. The report, dated March 31,-1965, and signed by the Assistant Regional Customs Representative in Tokyo, purports to cover microscopes and telescopes manufactured by Hishimoto and eventually purchased by the Book-of-the-Month Club. Most of the report itself deals with information not relevant to the issue before the court. However, there are statements attributed to a Mr. Terazawa of Matsuzaka that his company did not sell Hishimoto’s microscopes and telescopes to any United States company other than the plaintiff and that packing and inland freight charges were reimbursed from Matsuzaka to Hishimoto.

In his second affidavit, referred to supra as part of collective exhibit A, Mr. Kobayashi states that during 1959 his company sold microscopes and telescopes to Matsuzaka on an f .o.r. Yokohama basis; that during the same year Hishimoto also sold these items to the Marimo Kogaku Company, Tokyo, at a higher price due solely to the smaller quantities purchased. The final paragraph contains the following statements:

My company has never sold on an ex-factory basis to either Matsuzaka or Marimo. All sales to Matsuzaka and all sales to Marimo have been on an ex-godown basis (FOR).

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56 Cust. Ct. 597 (U.S. Customs Court, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 Cust. Ct. 641, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/book-of-the-month-club-v-united-states-cusc-1967.